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ParisFirst swimming in the seine under close surveillance
It is the turn of the general public to be able to reconnect, under close surveillance, with the joys of swimming in the Seine, more than a century after its ban.
A municipal police officer observes the bathers at the secure swimming site in Bercy, on the Seine, during its opening day, in Paris, on July 5, 2025. The Seine reopened to swimming that morning for Parisians for the first time since 1923, offering a welcome refuge to residents and tourists after scorching temperatures. The seasonal opening of the Seine for swimming is considered one of the flagship inheritances of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, during which the free water swimmers and the triathletes had contributed in its waters, specially cleaned for the event. (Photo by Julien de Rosa / AFP)
AFP“I’m too happy!” I have been dreaming of swimming in the Seine for years, “said Ingrid, a 95 -year -old Parisian in turquoise blue jersey, who does not wish to give her surname. She is among the first to come to bathe on the Bercy site, accompanied by her granddaughter, cautiously descending the steps which leads her to translucent water at 25 ° C.
Open at 11:00 am, the basin, enclosed and equipped with deckchairs and parasols, was quickly taken by storm by a heterogeneous audience.
Before taking the plunge, each swimmer had to equip himself for his safety with a yellow float attached to the waist, under the attentive gaze of a dozen bathtubs in fluorescent yellow t-shirts and bright red shorts, matching their whistle. Pneumatic boats from the Paris police prefecture posted around the security perimeter surrounding the swimmers completed the device.
“Like a mermaid”
“I feel like a mermaid,” jubilant Isabel Bertelot, 65. La Parisienne lives on the other side of the river, in the 13th arrondissement. “I have dreamed so many times to cross the Seine while swimming, allowed or not. So that’s good, I don’t even cheat! “She adds before diving.
Toby, American from California exclaims with AFP: “It is joy, happiness. We take advantage of it. We are one of the first in 100 years to be able to do this ”.
“She is really super good and above all much cleaner than what I expected!”, Amazes Peter, a German tourist from Munich. “I am like an Olympic swimmer, it’s great!” Adds the 17 -year -old high school student in English, splashed by his friends under a radiant sun, facing the François Mitterrand library.
Besides him, a fluorescent pink bath cap on his head, Chantal Eyboulet, a 61 -year -old Parisian engineer, completes a length, smiling: “It’s been 30 years since I expect that!”.
This first day of swimming authorized in the Seine, where it was prohibited since 1923, had started at 8:00 am from the pontoon on the arm Marie, facing the Île Saint-Louis.
“Frankly I am very surprised, I thought she was super icy but in fact she is super good, (…) It’s great,” rejoiced Karine, 51 years old, auxiliary of life from Créteil, one of the very first bathers to enter the water.
The mayor of Paris went to this site, alongside the Minister of Sports Marie Barsacq and the Police Prefects of Paris Laurent Nunez and the Ile-de-France region Marc Guilaume, shortly before 08:30.
Anne Hidalgo who had bathed there before the Olympic Games, did not join the Parisians this time. “In good Parisian, I’m going to come to bathe” later but “I will not summon the press,” she said in front of the cameras.
The Minister of Sports has put on a combination before embarking on the Seine in Bercy. “It is excellent!”, She commented between two breastpins, interviewed by AFP. “She’s super clean. I took a bottle, I looked. The water is translucent. The levels of bacteria are at its lowest, ”said the minister.
“Exceptional” sanitary quality
The sanitary quality of water is “exceptional”, confirmed the regional prefect Marc Guillaume, stressing that “all the information (concerning) is public”.
“We have two bacteria that we control, the E.Coli and the Enterococci, for some we are 10 times on the thresholds and for others more than 25 times under the thresholds”, according to him.
A third swimming site was inaugurated in the Arm of Grenelle in the morning. Like the other two, it will remain accessible for free only to people knowing how to swim, until August 31 if the weather permits.
The Marie Bras can accommodate 150 people simultaneously, Bercy up to 700, including 300 in the bathing area. Grenelle, the only site to have a secure pool for families with a background, has a capacity of 200 people at a time. A nautical base will offer the practice of kayak for free.
More than 1.4 billion euros were invested to improve the water quality upstream of the river, with wastewater capture work to prevent them from spilling.
But given that in Paris, rainwater and wastewater mix in a single network, the only solution in the event of abundant precipitation is to pour the overflow into the Seine.
This summer and at the beach, flags (green, yellow, red) will allow you to know the flow of the Seine and the quality of the water. If the lights are red, swimming will be closed.
Last year, 13 deaths at swimming in the Seine were identified and three since the beginning of 2025, according to the authorities.
While the hot weather could try some to throw themselves in the water outside the authorized places, a prefectural decree was ended at the end of June to verbalize wild swimming.
